Young Teachers: Descending on New Orleans

When New Orleans teachers were fired en masse in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a new generation of teachers converged on the city to teach its returning students. For the most part, this new corps of teachers is young, white and affluent –- exports of Teach for America and other alternate-track teacher training programs. In the last year, T.F.A. has doubled its number of recruits in New Orleans and, according to recent reports, they are outperforming New Orleans’ traditionally-trained, veteran teachers.

Using video, photography and the written word, Columbia reporters plan to cover the challenges these teachers face, the friction caused when out-of-towners swoop in to “save” a population that they have little in common with — both socioeconomically and racially — and those new teachers’ impact on New Orleans schools and the city’s cultural make-up.